America is about to become a Toys “R” Us graveyard

Prepare to see reminders of the death of your childhood everywhere you go, because giant toy retailer and Christmas gift dream maker/crusher Toys “R” Us is filing for liquidation this week, according to CBS. The company will be closing 850 stores across the U.S. and already have plans to shutter its 75 locations in the U.K.

A Toys R Us Store in Lancaster County.
George Sheldon / Shutterstock.com

Competition from outlets like Walmart, Target, and Amazon contributed to Toys “R” Us’s demise, which left them with $4.9 billion in debt when it filed for bankruptcy last fall. In the U.S., 33,000 people are expected to lose their jobs in the closures. Does the end of the toy retailer mean our children have the hope of growing up in a less materialistic, spirit-breaking hellscape? Absolutely not; Amazon is there to fill the void. But what that does mean is that the country will soon be littered with giant, vacant, blue and yellow Toys “R” Us superstores to remind us all of the emptiness of consumerism. That, or your favorite childhood memory of getting your first bike and riding it around the store, the last time you truly felt safe, free, and alive. Whatever works for you.